November 2nd - New Orleans Pelicans @ Oklahoma City Thunder - 1-4
After a very rough 0-4 start to the season, we managed our first win last game against the Denver Nuggets to finally break into the W column! What a relief. Tonight, we look to continue that trend in the right direction as we take on the OKC Thunder, who share our current record of 1-4.
Currently, the Thunder are a strange team. They're one of those teams who could go either way: with Golden State being essentially eliminated from the playoff race barring anything strange happening, and the regression of the Kings so far this year, the Thunder move into one of those wild-card positions for the playoffs (assuming they don't go scorched earth and throw all their guys away for assets by the deadline).
First of all, before anything else, INJURY NOTES: Stephen Adams is currently listed as questionable for this game, so it's possible that we won't see him at all. Roberson is still out. For us, Derrick Favors is listed as doubtful, and frankly I'm okay with that. Just sit him until he's 100%, please.
Here are the Thunder's relevant stats through 5 games:
Offensive Rating: 99.1 (27th in the NBA)
Defensive Rating: 98.3 (4th in the NBA)
Rebounds p/game: 50.8 (5th in the NBA)
Assists p/game: 18 (28th in the NBA)
3pt %age: 32.6% (20th in the NBA)
Pace: 103.1 (15th in the NBA)
We're kind of opposite teams, in a way. Same record, but they have a top 5 defense and a trash offense, and we have a top 5 offense but have been largely terrible on D. They're a top tier rebounding team, but are pretty bad with overall assist rate: meanwhile, we're 24th in the NBA in rebounds right now, but currently number 1 in assists.
Given Adams' absence, we might not be as mismatched on the boards as we would otherwise be: if he sits, his 12 rebounds a night sit with him, especially his tenacious offensive rebounding, which will free up defensive boards for us and hopefully mitigate our struggles on the glass. Of course, that's assuming he does sit.
This game is very winnable, really. We just need the main guys to show up to a reasonable extent, and replicate the improvements in the defense we saw against Denver: the slower pace of the Thunder should help with that, to some degree. Hopefully we can go out there and improve our record again. 4-0 to make up for starting 0-4 sounds good :hihi:
Let's go and get the win! #WBD